If the St. Mary’s River Marine Heritage Centre won’t move the Norgoma, the City of Sault Ste. Marie will.

And they’ll bill the volunteer organization for its costs.

City council will receive a report at its March 18 meeting outlining options on how and where the Norgoma will be moved to, said Tom Vair, the city’s deputy CAO of community development and enterprise services.

Vair has penned a letter to Louis Muio, president of the board of directors of the SMRMHC, confirming the M.S. Norgoma must be removed by April 15 or as soon as weather conditions permit.

He takes issue with the board’s cancellation and postponement of many meeting dates to discuss the removal of the Norgoma that had been scheduled last summer and again earlier this month.

The SMRMHC has been unable to find a new home for the museum ship and despite their pleas to city council to keep the vessel at its current location, those requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Vair said several options will be presented in a report to city council, but he wouldn’t specify what those options are.

“We need to let council see the report first and they will determine the path forward,” he said.

Vair says the city has been able to find a location within the city where the Norgoma can be moved to temporarily.

“We should have that finalized very shortly but we think we have an alternative location,” for the ship, he said.

He would not identify the location but said he anticipates costs would be greater than the $25,000 expense expected if the Norgoma had been moved to a dock behind the former Sault Area Hospital.

“We are just fulfilling council’s wish to get the Norgoma out of the marina so we can replace the docks. What happens with the Norgoma after that is up to the SMRMHC to deal with,” he said.

Vair’s letter dated Feb. 22, 2019 to Muio said city council has confirmed and budgeted for the replacement of the Bondar Marina docks and staff are now moving forward rapidly with the planning for their installation.

“We need to finalize the removal of the Norgoma in order to properly sequence events,” the letter reads.

“I am sending this letter to document these communications and also to communicate clearly that the M.S. Norgoma must be removed by the deadline imposed by council.”

He confirms that if the SMRMHC is unable to remove the vessel, city staff will make those arrangements and pass all costs to the board.

“It is clear that MS Norgoma needs far more investment in order to bring the vessel into a condition that the community can be proud of and properly provide services to visitors and residents,” Vair states, adding that the vessel does not meet the city’s current priorities.

The board has scanned the area – on both sides of the international border – to find a new home for the museum ship, but has not had any luck finding a new home.

Efforts have been made to keep the ship local so the existing board can continue to operate the museum and other related events that have grown over the past two years.

The board sought – but was refused – approval to dock the ship on Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority property adjacent to the former hospitals. A licence of occupation permit the authority has with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry does not permit Norgoma to be stored on it.

Other options explored included Parks Canada and the Valleycamp in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

It’s most potential hope was at the Canadian Bushplane Museum Heritage Centre, Muio had said in an earlier interview.

Muio said the board has made it clear that it wants the 180-foot vessel to stay in the Sault Ste. Marie area and the board is eager to continue growing its activities and partnerships with other organizations.

But Vair says while there have been new activities introduced to revitalize the ship and provide some revenue for the organization, those activities are organized by other community groups of which the city is willing to partner with outside of the Norgoma.

The local food market held on the Norgoma last year can be held elsewhere by Harvest Algoma, including under the Bondar pavilion.

The open Mic Night space for local youth and emerging artists can also be performed at the Bondar pavilion or on the March Street stage or elsewhere downtown.

Night markets held on the vessel to fundraise and showcase local small businesses also tie in with the City’s Thursday night markets and complement its summer concert series, Vair notes.

Alternate locations can also be found for other festivals and events the board is encouraging on the ship.

“There are many exciting projects under development and, far from turning away young people we welcome their involvement in building out engaging activities in our downtown – it may not be, however, on the M.S. Norgoma,” the letter states.